By Admin1 (admin) on Friday, July 11, 2003 - 11:17 am: Edit Post |
Brazil RPCV Don Muirhead works with Partners of America in Paraiba
Brazil RPCV Don Muirhead works with Partners of America in Paraiba
Muirhead has 2 lives of service
Christina Hall - Chronicle Staff Writer
WILLIMANTIC - In addition to being a permanent fixture in the Windham area as director of the town's human services department, Don Muirhead has a second community in Brazil.
"It's really hard to put into words what it means to me because it's too big," Muirhead said of his nearly 30-year history with the South American country.
His most recent trip back to Brazil, where he spent several years working in the Peace Corps, was to attend a conference sponsored by Partners of America, an organization that pairs up states in the United States with states in South and Central America as well as the Caribbean.
Muirhead is treasurer of the Connecticut chapter of Partners of America, and has worked on providing programs to support Connecticut's sister state in Brazil, Paraiba. A state on the northeastern coast of Brazil, Paraiba has many miles of coastline, but the majority of the state is inland, and consists of semi-arid farmland that suffers from long periods of drought, according to Muirhead.
The conference was held in Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state, Pernambuco, as a way of orienting current and future leaders involved with Partners in America. After the conference, Muirhead, along with other members of Connecticut chapter, including chapter president Frank Gagliardi, had the chance to visit Paraiba's capital city, Joao Pessoa.